Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/518

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HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT

mixture, coat with breadcrumbs, and fry in hot butter, in a sauté-pan. When nicely browned on both sides take them out of the pan, and keep them hot. Add the flour to the butter in the pan, fry lightly, pour in the stock, stir till it boils, then add the lemon-juice, cream and glaze, season to taste, and simmer for 2 or 3 minutes. The fillets may be dished in a circle on a border of mashed potato, with the rolls of bacon piled in the centre, or in two rows alternately with fried, thin, stamped-out rounds of bacon of equal size. The sauce should be strained and poured round the dish.

Time.—About ½ an hour. Average Cost, 2s. 3d. to 2s. 6d. Sufficient for 7 to 9 persons.

The Golden Calf.—In the Book of Genesis we are told that Aaron, constrained by the impatient Israelites during the lengthened absence of Moses in the Mount, made a golden calf from the golden earrings presented by the people, to represent the Elohim which brought the Children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. The "Golden Calf" was probably a wooden figure of a calf overlaid with plates of gold, fashioned in a similar manner to the gilded ox covered with a pall, which the Egyptian regarded as the symbol of Osiris, one of the great Egyptian divinities, and the king of the gods and Judge of the Dead. The offerings, dancing, and rejoicings which the Israelites practised were probably identical with the ceremony with which Mnevis, one of the three kinds of sacred bulls, was worshipped in Egypt: hence the punishment inflicted upon the people by Moses.

730.—FILLETS OF VEAL, TALLEYRAND STYLE. (Fr.Filets de Veau à la Talleyrand.)

Ingredients.—1 lb. of fillet or cushion of veal, 1½ ozs. of butter, 2 shallots finely-chopped, 1 dessertspoonful of finely-chopped parsley, 6 preserved mushrooms, the juice of ½ a lemon, ¼ of a pint of white sauce, the yolks of 2 eggs, salt and pepper.

Method.—Cut the meat into 6 or 7 pieces of equal size and thickness, flatten slightly with a cutlet-bat, and trim into a round or oval form. Melt the butter in a sauté or frying-pan, put in the cutlets, and cook them thoroughly, but do not allow them to acquire much colour. Have the white sauce nearly boiling in a small stewpan, put in the fillets, cover, and draw to the side of the stove. Cut the mushrooms into small pieces, add them, together with the shallots, to the butter in the sauté-pan, fry for a few minutes without browning, then turn the contents of the sauté-pan into the stewpan, simmer very gently until the fillets are tender, then cool slightly. Add the lemon-juice, parsley, yolks of eggs, season to taste, and stir gently by the side of the fire until the sauce thickens, but it must not boil, or the eggs may curdle. Dish the fillets in a single row on a foundation of mashed potato, which helps to keep them in position, pour the sauce over them carefully, in order that every part may be equally coated, and serve.

Time.—About 1 hour. Average Cost, 2s. Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.

731.—FRICASSEE OF CALF'S FEET. (Fr.Pieds de Veau en Fricassée.)

Ingredients.—4 cooked calves' feet (those which have been boiled down for jelly may be used), 1 pint of white sauce (see Sauces), 1 tea-